Monday, April 6, 2015

Coop tours

This article about Chicken Coop Tours is in the current issue of Backyard Poultry magazine. The magazine has a nice map showing where the listed tours are being held.

Kimberly Stein's coop in Fort Collins, Colorado

Kimberly's chickens investigate their new water feature.

Backyard chicken keepers are proud of their chickens and
their coops. Inviting the public along for a coop tour has become a popular way
to get chicken folks together. It’s fun, and gives everyone a chance to
exchange ideas.

Many places hold their tours in the spring, but others wait
until summer or combine them with harvest events. Check around your community
to find out when and where the local tour is.

Joshua Heiling showed off his coop in Madison.

Madison, Wisconsin’s Mad City Chickens have been sharing
coop ideas for more than ten years. They’ve gone digital, posting a Google map
for participants to follow on their phones.

In Atlanta, the eighth annual Urban Coop Tour attracts
around 300-500 visitors to 14 coops. Backyard chicken keepers often keep other
critters and livestock, such as guineafowl, turkeys and rabbits. Bees are
popular.

Claire Reeve makes use of a narrow space next to her Atlanta home.

“It’s almost become an urban farm tour,” said organizer
Anne-Marie Anderson, who has chaired the event for the Wylde Center for the
past four years.

Ms. Anderson got involved with chickens through her
gardening business. She didn’t know anything about chickens, but got some a few
years ago and now teaches chicken classes as well as organizing the coop tour.
She currently shares ten chickens with her neighbors. They include Orpingtons,
Sussex, Easter eggers, a Jaerhon and a Black Copper Marans rooster.

“He was a surprise,” she said.

In Fort Collins, Colorado, the Sustainable Living
Association sponsors both a Tour de Coop and a Tour de Farms. The Sustainable
Living Center championed Fort Collins’ legal acceptance of backyard chickens,
which clarified the requirements in 2013. Chicken keeping is relatively new, so
they are learning as they go. About 35 showed up for the eight-mile bike tour
of eight backyard coops in 2014. A bike technician was on hand to help with
mechanical problems. The tour concluded with a locally-sourced organic dinner.

“People wanted to talk about issues they had had with
predators, feed, medications and unfamiliar behavior, like broodiness,”
Kimberly Stein, program director, said. “They were excited about new breeds
they hadn’t heard of. A Polish hen named Tina Turner was a sensation.”

In Raleigh and Cary, North Carolina, more than 1,000 turn
out for the tour. It’s a fund-raiser for Urban Ministries as well as a chicken
event. It has evolved over its ten-year history, into an event celebrating
humane animal care, local sustainable food and community involvement. Its Coop
Carnival in 2014 highlighted nonprofit agencies that benefit both humans and
animals.

"My husband went all out on design," said Marian Crabb of Decatur. "He started by thinking
of the arches we'd seen in French cathedrals. Over time those arches began to
take on the shapes of eggs. A construction miscalculation then cracked the egg.
These shots are from the construction process two years ago. The doors to the
upper coop are now fried eggs!"

“Non-profits and sponsors had booths at the carnival, and we
offered food and entertainment as well,” said organizer M’Liss Koopman. “All
with a chicken theme, of course.”

In Tucson, Arizona, the Food Conspiracy Co-op sponsors the
City Chickens Coop Tour in December. Water’s scarce there, so using less is a
theme at the sites on tour, showcasing features such as composting toilets,
aquaculture systems and both photovoltaic and passive solar systems. The tour
includes Tucson Botanical Gardens’ coop, the coop of Watershed Management Group’s
Lisa and Catlow Shipek and one at thriving midtown urban Dreamflower Farm.
ReZoNation Farm in Avra Valley has mobile coops and visitors can see the coop
at Drachman Montessori Magnet School Ecology Program, winner of Sustainable
Tucson’s Green School Recognition.

In Norwell, Massachusetts, the South Shore Natural Science
Center sponsors the Hen House Hop, a tour of local coops that starts at the
center. Friends of a Feather 4-H members are on hand to share backyard chickens
pointers for success. Coops include local solutions to predator issues and
surviving New England’s cold, wet weather. Tickets are sold to benefit the
center’s Jose Carriero Children’s Garden, where children of all ages can get
their hands in the dirt and learn where food comes from. The center has an
on-site Nature Center Preschool.

Eugene’s Visit Coop Town USA shows diverse coop designs,
ranging from high tech to simple and utilitarian. With about 3,000 locals keeping
chickens, it’s easy to find coops for the tour.

“The coops on display are generally
diverse, ranging from high tech to pretty designs to simple and utilitarian,”
said Bill Bezuk of Eugene Backyard Farmer

In Boise, Idaho, the 2014 Tour de Coop included a raffle
that sold a custom built coop complete with feed and four chicks, two original
artworks and other items. The event raised over $3,000 for the Bishop Kelly
High School Scholarships Fund.

“The people who get
involved are an interesting, varied mix,” Ms. Anderson of Atlanta said. “Chicken
people are easy-going, bubbly and vibrant.”

Chicken coop tours

Keeping a few hens in the backyard has become so popular
that advocates in many cities have organized tours of local coops. This list
highlights some of them. Check around your area to find out whether your area
has one. If not, perhaps you are the one to get it started!

About Me

As a professional journalist, I began writing about heritaqe poultry after my daughter and I acquired our first chickens in the 1980s. Voyageur Press invited me to write How to Raise Chickens in 2007, followed by How to Raise Poultry in 2009. New editions of both were published in 2013 and 2014. The poultry book covers ducks, geese, swans, turkeys, guineafowl, game birds and ratites as well as chickens.
My next book, The Backyard Field Guide to Chickens, will be available in May 2016.
Traditional breeds are the best choice for small flocks. I continue as a regular contributor to Backyard Poultry magazine.